ESTABLISHMENT OF DOMINANT MASCULINITIES THROUGH GENDER-BASED DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

This study argues that there is a relationship between gender-based domestic violence against women and dominant masculinities. The aim of this study is to understand how and in which circumstances men establish their dominant masculinity through gender-based domestic violence against women. The concept of gender means in this study is traditional patriarchal patterns which produce domestic violence against women. The data was collected through a qualitative field research, in-depth semi-structured interviews with women victims of domestic violence staying in a women’s shelter. The social dynamics which provide basis for establishing dominant masculinities through gender-based domestic violence against women and how these social dynamics produce domestic violence against women were analyzed in this study within the limits of data obtained from the field research. The majority of interviewees stated that their husbands treat them worse than ever especially in front of their families/relatives. The findings reached from the research create an impression that the husbands try to establish their dominant masculinity which they could not establish it through having a prestigious job or a good salary, by treating their wives worse than they ever in front of their families/relatives probably with an expectation of respect and/or acceptance by them. According to the experiences shared by interviewees it is understood that the family members/relatives of their husbands stay silence to the violence against them or contribute to the husband’s violence by their words and/or behaviors. This situation is evaluated in this study as an indication of a social expectation for establishing dominant masculinity in some way.